Stony Brook’s Mykeema Ford (Trenton, N.J./Cheshire Academy) earns America East Player of the Week honors for week nine, while Vermont’s Courtnay Pilypaitis (Orleans, Ontario/St. Peter) wins her league-best fifth America East Rookie of the Week accolade, her third in as many weeks. The awards were announced Monday (January 8).
Ford earns her first player of the week honor of the season and her fourth all-time. She scored 18 points including 10-of-11 shooting from the free-throw line in a loss at Hartford. Ford followed that up with a season-best 29 points on 8-of-12 shooting from the floor, and 9-of-9 from the charity stripe and handed out seven assists in a road win over UMBC. Ford leads the conference in scoring (16.9 ppg) and ranks third in assists (4.57 apg).
Pilypaitis scored 15 points and handed out a career-high 11 assists in an 87-74 win at Boston University on Sunday. The freshman moved into a sixth-place tie on the all-time list of America East Rookie of the Week award winners. Last season, Erica Beverly set the single-season record for rookie of the week accolades as she received this honor 10 times. Pilypaitis is leading all underclassmen in scoring and ranks fifth overall (13.4 ppg). She is also second in the conference in assists (4.71 apg).
AMERICA EAST NOTEBOOK
Preseason Favorite Meets Biggest Secret
On Wednesday night in Burlington, the league’s perennial power and preseason favorite Hartford will square off against the league’s biggest surprise of the season Vermont. The Hawks are 2-0 with wins over Stony Brook and New Hampshire, while the Catamounts are 1-0 with a win at Boston University.
A Grand Rohde: 1,000 Point Club
UMBC senior forward Sharri Rohde (Indianapolis, Ind./Franklin Central) became the 15th player in Retriever history to score 1,000 points in her career. She scored 10 points in a loss to Stony Brook to surpass this historic mark. In addition, she is just the 13th player in Retrievers’ history to score 1,000 points and pull down 500 rebounds.
Guess Who’s Back???
Bracey Barker’s (Bar Harbor, Maine/Mount Desert Island) come back has not been a quiet one for Maine. The senior, who suffered a wrist injury that sidelined her for five games, has averaged 15.5 ppg and 6.5 rpg since her return. It’s no coincidece the Black Bears are 2-0 since her return. Maine went just 1-4 in her absence.
Road Teams Fairing Well Early
Visiting teams are an impressive 5-3 in conference games this season. In 2005-06, road teams were 24-25 in conference games.
Ford Extends Double-Digit Streak
Stony Brook’s Mykeema Ford (Trenton, N.J./Cheshire Academy) has a league-best 16 game double-digit scoring streak, dating back to the March 10, 2006 America East quarterfinal game against Vermont. The league-leading scorer netted 18 points in a loss to Hartford and poured in a season-high 29 points in a win at UMBC.
RPI Update
America East moved up one spot from #17 to #16 in the Jan. 8 version of the Collegiate Basketball News (CBN) women’s college basketball ratings percentage index (RPI). In addition, five America East teams improved its standings from week four. All and all, five of the nine teams ranked in the top 200.
School 1/1 1/8 Diff.
Vermont 127 114 +13
Maine 143 128 +15
Stony Brook 171 150 +21
UMBC 217 210 +7
New Hampshire 265 260 +5
SBU’s Ford Scores 1,500 Point
Stony Brook’s Mykeema Ford (Trenton, N.J./Cheshire Academy) became just the 25th America East player to score 1,500 points. She surpassed the 1,500 mark as she netted 29 points in a win at UMBC. She is just the fourth player in school history to net 1,500 points, currently at 1512. The senior guard is just 34 points away from moving into second all-time in the school’s scoring list. In addition, Stony Brook’s Jessica Smith (Bloomingdale, N.J./Butler) is just 46 points shy of 1,500 for her career.
Albany, UMBC Win First League Opener
Albany and UMBC captured their first-ever conference opener since joining America East. The Danes earn their first conferencing opening win since joing the conference in 2001-02 by virtue of its 63-59 overtime win over Binghamton. UMBC jumped out to a large lead early and held on late in a win over Boston U.
Non-Conference Play Comes to An End
Binghamton will travel to Cornell on Monday and New Hampshire will entertain Dartmouth on Wednesday to close out non-conference regular season play for 2006-07. With just two games left in non-conference play, America East boasts a 54-57 record in these contests.
Hartford Extends Home Streak
The Hawks extended their conference home win- streak to 17 games with a win over New Hampshire. This streak includes Hartford’s impressive 6-0 record in the America East Championship over the past two seasons.
Importance of Winning Early
Last season the top four teams after the opening week of conference play finished as the league’s top four seeds heading into the postseason.
School Week 1 Final
Hartford 2-0 15-1
Stony Brook 1-0 12-4
Boston U. 1-0 9-7
Binghamton 2-0 9-7
Stony Brook’s One-Two Scoring Duo
Stony Brook’s Mykeema Ford (Trenton, N.J./Cheshire Academy) and Jessica Smith (Bloomingdale, N.J./Butler) currently rank first and second in the league in scoring respectively. Ford leads the lead in scoring, averaging 16.9 ppg, while Smith is second at 16.1 ppg. Never in league history has a team had players finish first and second in scoring.
Defense: A League Trend
America East schools have been turning up the heat defensively this season. Five of nine teams are holding opponents under 60 points per game, while all are under 71 ppg allowed. In addition, all nine schools are holding its opponents under 46 percent shooting from the floor.
Not In Our House
America East schools are 24-16 in non-conference home games, this season. With just one non-conference home game left this season, the conference will finish over .500 in such games. In 2005-06, the conference was 46-26 in home games.
Non-Conference Success
America East teams have combined for a 54-57 (.486) non-conference record to start the 2006-07 season. As a whole, conference teams are 8-1 against the Ivy League and have tallied seven wins over the MAAC and six over the Patriot League and Northeast Conference.
Seniors Leading the Way
The America East elders continue to lead their respective teams offensive. Nine of the top 10 scorers, including the top five, are all seniors.
Rank Name, School PPG
1. Mykeema Ford, Stony Brook 16.9
2. Jessica Smith, Stony Brook 16.1
3. Katie Meinhardt, Boston U. 15.3
4. Bracey Barker, Maine 15.1
5. Sharri Rohde, UMBC 14.7
7. Ashley Underwood, Maine 13.3
8. Danielle Clark, New Hampshire 12.4
9. Brittnie Hughes, UMBC 11.9
10. Erica Kovach, Boston U. 11.7
Class Acts: Scoring Leaders
The following is a breakdown of scoring leaders by class in America East.
Seniors:
Rank Name, School PPG
1. Mykeema Ford, Stony Brook 16.9
2. Jessica Smith, Stony Brook 16.1
3. Katie Meinhardt, Boston U. 15.3
Juniors:
Rank Name, School PPG
11. Kristin Drabyn, UMBC 11.5
12. Laura Sario, Binghamton 11.5
16. Danielle Hood, Hartford 10.5
Sophomore:
Rank Name, School PPG
19. Amy Rosenkrantz, Vermont 9.5
28. Kristi Dini, Boston U. 8.4
30. Danielle Flowers, New Hampshire 7.8
Freshmen:
Rank Name, School PPG
6. Courtnay Pilypaitis, Vermont 13.4
14. May Kotsopoulos, Vermont 11.1
25. Britney McGee, Albany 8.7
Tournament Frenzy
America East schools have participated in 16 in-season tournaments during non-conference play this year. Earlier this season, Vermont won the URI Invitational and TD Banknorth Classic, Maine captured the Dead River Classic title, UMBC went a perfect 2-0 at the Battle at the Border Tournament, and Boston U. lost to No. 3 Duke in the finals of the Blue Sky Classic.
Playing the Field (NCAA STYLE)
America East schools are slated to play 24 of the 64 teams in last year’s NCAA Division I Women’s Basketball Championship. Among these teams are Connecticut, Purdue, Duke, Temple, Arizona State and Boston College. Several other teams earned automatic bids by winning their conference championship.
Lights, Camera, Action
America East announced its most comprehensive television schedule in history with more than 50 men’s and women’s basketball games slated for broadcast in 2006-07 (see following page for complete schedule). Included in the package is the America East Men’s Basketball Championship, which will air live on ESPN2 on March 10 at 12 noon. It marks the 19th-consecutive year that the championship game will appear on ESPN or ESPN2.
America East and ESPN Regional Television will team up to produce and distribute games throughout the America East geographic footprint, which includes several of the nation’s top 25 media markets including New York (No. 1), Boston (No. 5), Washington, D.C. (No. 8), Baltimore and Hartford. In addition, no fewer than 12 games will be included in the ESPN Full Court package, the subscription service provided by ESPN. The games will also be available on-line via video streaming at AmericaEast.com, through the conference’s multi-media partner, XOS Technologies.
Championship Binghamton Bound
The America East Women’s Basketball Championship moves to Binghamton for the first time in 2007 as Binghamton University hosts the nine-team tournament on March 8-11 at Events Center. The first round game will take place on Thursday, March 8, followed by the quarterfinals on Friday, March 9, the semifinals on Saturday, March 10 and the title game on Sunday, March 11.
Tournament ticket packages are $25 for youth/students and $40 for adults. To purchase tickets call 607-777-SLAM or online at www.AmericaEast.com. To request media credentials for the conference’s premier event, email Tom Wilkins (wilkins@americaeast.com).
TEAM-BY-TEAM NOTEBOOKS
Albany Great Danes
Albany (5-10, 1-1 America East) kicked off America East Conference play with a 63-59 overtime win at Binghamton on Jan. 4... It was the first conference-opening win for the Great Danes since joining the league in 2001-02... Junior Sherri Mikus (Duncannon, Pa./Susquenita) led Albany with a season-high 22 points to go along with nine rebounds, three steals and an assist... Mikus, who played all 45 minutes for the Great Danes, is second on the team, averaging 9.5 points per game... Junior forward Gia Sanders (Bowie, Md./The Bullis School) recorded her first career double-double against the Bearcats, scoring 13 points and grabbing 10 rebounds... Senior guard Amanda Ward (East Hartford, Conn./East Hartford), who leads the team with 11.3 points per contest, scored 14 points and recorded nine boards at Binghamton... Ward added a team-high 15 points in the Great Danes’ 57-52 loss to Maine on Jan. 7... Sanders also came off the bench to score 11 points and grab seven rebounds... Junior forward Kristin Higy (Akron, Ohio/North Canton Hoover) scored 12 points, recorded five boards and three steals... Freshman Charity Iromuanya (Lincoln, Neb./Lincoln Northeast) grabbed a team-high four steals to help lead the Great Danes to a season-best 14 swipes against the Black Bears... UAlbany will play host to UMBC on Wednesday and head to Boston U. on Sunday.
Binghamton Bearcats
Binghamton (3-10, 0-1 America East) has three games this week, two of which are on the road... Junior guard Laura Sario (Espoo, Finland/Tapiolalonken) returned to the lineup after missing five games with a knee injury and netted a team-high 17 points against Albany last Thursday... Junior center Laine Kurpniece (Riga, Latvia/Secondary School 47) has reached double figures in each of the past four games... She has averaged 13.0 points during that span... Against the Great Danes, she scored 10 points and grabbed 11 rebounds to record her second double-double of the season... She now has eight double-doubles for her career... junior forward Brianna Thompson (Chehalis, Wash./ W.F. West) has reached double figures in four-of-the-past-six games... She is averaging 10.6 points during that span... Binghamton enters the week with a record of 399-326 (.550) in 34 seasons as an intercollegiate program... The Bearcats will reach the 400-win mark with their next triumph.
Boston University Terriers
Boston University (8-7, 0-2 America East) fell to Vermont 87-74 margin on Sunday... Senior Katie Meinhardt (San Francisco, Calif./St. Ignatius) led with a team-high 17 points and senior Erica Kovach (Georgetown, Texas/Georgetown) and sophomore Kristi Dini (Putnam Valley, N.Y./Putnam Valley) added 15 and 10 points, respectively... Vermont shot 64 percent in the second half and used an 18-9 run that spanned nearly seven minutes to grab a 20-point lead, 84-64, and its largest of the game... However, the Terriers did not give up and cut the lead to 13 with one second remaining with a Meinhardt field goal, which moved the final score to 87-74... Two days earlier, Boston U. dropped its conference opener to UMBC, 66-58, at the Retrievers’ RAC Arena... Kovach finished with a career-high 29 points and 10 rebounds... After going down by as many as 12 points, the Terriers made a furious comeback with under a minute remaining to post 11 points and close the gap to 63-58... UMBC hit three free throws at the end to round out the scoring at 66-58.
Hartford Hawks
Hartford (9-6, 2-0 America East) snapped a three-game losing skid with a pair of conference wins in the first week of America East action... Hartford began with a 61-54 victory on the road at Stony Brook, the only conference gym the Hawks fell victim in last season... The Hawks then returned home and squeaked out a 48-47 victory over New Hampshire on Sunday... The Hawks shot well against Stony Brook, but that was not the case against the Wildcats... Hartford finished the Stony Brook game with its highest shooting percentage of the season at 52.4 percent (22-of-42) with a second half percentage of 62.5 (10-of-16)... Against the Wildcats the Hawks struggled, finishing with a lower shooting percentage than the opposition at 30.5 percent (18-of-59) from the field... Against the Seawolves, Danielle Hood (Cortlandt Manor, N.Y./Walter Panas) led the Hawks with 16 points while Ikea Witt (Vineland, N.J./Sacred Heart) added 15 points... Lisa Etienne (Norwalk, Conn./Brien McMahon/Penn State) and Diana Delva (Stamford, Conn./Westhill) finished with career outings against the Wildcats... Etienne recorded her career best of 16 points and nine rebounds, leading all scorers in the game... Delva also added career highs in points and rebounds with eight points and 16 rebounds, including seven on the offensive end of the floor... For the season, Witt continues to lead the team with a 10.9 points-per-game average while Hood is close behind her with a 10.5 ppg average... Etienne is moving up the scoring column with double digit games in three of the last four outings. She is now averaging 7.4 ppg.
Maine Black Bears
Maine (8-5, 2-0 America East) won both of its games this past week over New Hampshire (64-47) and Albany (57-52) to run its winning streak to three games... The Black Bears have won at least eight games in their opening 13 contests for the first time since the 2003-04 season and are off to a 2-0 start in conference play for the first time since the 2004-05 season... The victory over UNH was Maine’s ninth-straight over the Wildcats at home... The Black Bears also improved to 13-0 all-time against Albany with the win and have defeated the Great Danes four times in the past calendar year... Bracey Barker (Bar Harbor, Maine/Mount Desert Island) averaged 15.5 points, 6.5 rebounds and 2.0 blocks per game during the week as she returned from a five-game absence due to an injury... She was 7-of-13 from the floor and scored a game-high 20 points in Maine’s win at Albany on Sunday... It marked the seventh time in the nine games she has played in this season that she has led the team in scoring... Ashley Underwood (Augusta, Maine/Cony) scored a game-high 17 points in Maine’s win over New Hampshire on Thursday, which marked her second-straight contest scoring a game-high in points... Underwood also had 18 points on Sunday at Albany, which was her 50th-career double-figure scoring game... Katie Whittier (New Gloucester, Maine/Gray-New Gloucester H.S.) started off conference play on the right foot as she notched a double-double against UNH with 16 points and 11 rebounds... It was Whittier’s second-straight double-double, her third overall, and was her fourth double-figure rebounding game this season... The Black Bears return to action on Wednesday when they travel to Vestal, N.Y., to face Binghamton at 7 p.m... Maine will close out its three-game road trip on Sunday when it travels to Burlington, Vt., to face Vermont at 1 p.m... Following this three-game road swing, the Black Bears will return to the friendly confines of Alfond Arena for six-of-its-next-eight games.
UMBC Retrievers
UMBC (8-7, 1-1 America East) split two home games in the opening week of America East Conference play, defeating Boston University in a come-from-behind 66-58 victory on Jan. 4 before falling to Stony Brook, 72-60, on Jan. 7... Senior forward Sharri Rohde (Indianapolis, Ind./Franklin Central) became the 15th player in UMBC history to score 1,000 points in her career when she scored 10 against the Seawolves... Rohde also became the 13th member of UMBC’s 1,000-point/500-rebound club... The Retrievers’ conference-opening victory over the Terriers marked the first time UMBC had won its America East opener since joining the league in 2003-04 and also marked the Retrievers’ first victory in their first conference game of the season since 1997-98 when members of the Big South... The loss to the Seawolves snapped UMBC’s season-long four-game winning streak... Rohde has started all 99 games in her career... Four Retrievers scored in double figures in both games, including junior forward Amanda Robinson (Lusby, Md./Patuxent), who averaged 18.0 ppg and tied a career high with 22 points against Boston U.... UMBC visits Albany for its first America East road game of the season on Jan. 10, then returns home to host Binghamton on Jan. 13.
New Hampshire Wildcats
New Hampshire (5-8, 0-2 America East) dropped its first two conference games this week... Senior forward Danielle Clark (Corrina, Maine/Nokomis Regional) tallied 17 points in the Wildcats loss to Maine on Jan. 4... Clark had nine of UNH’s 20 points in the first half... She went on to go 6-for-6 from the charity stripe in the second half... On Jan. 7, the Wildcats came back from an eight-point deficient, but fell short falling to Hartford 48-47... Freshman Amy Simpson (Waterford, Conn./Waterford) led the rally for the Wildcats, sinking both of her free throws to tie it with just under 10 minutes to play... Whitney Edwards (Mount Vernon, N.Y./Trinity Catholic (Conn.)) sunk a three at the final buzzer to make it 48-47... The Wildcats return home this week with an interstate matchup with Dartmouth on Wednesday at 7 p.m and will play host to Stony Brook on Saturday at noon.
Stony Brook Seawolves
Stony Brook (4-8, 0-0 America East) went 1-1 last week. In the first conference game on Wednesday vs. Hartford, the Seawolves fell to Hartford 61-54... Mykeema Ford (Trenton, N.J./Chesire Academy) scored a game-high 18 points including 10-of-11 from the free throw line... Jessica Smith (Bloomingdale, N.J./Butler) and Leah Getz (Peninsula, Ohio/Southampton College) each scored in double figures with 13 and 11 points, respectively... On Sunday, the Seawolves picked up their first conference victory with a 72-60 win on the road vs. UMBC... Ford scored a season-high 29 points fueled by 9-of-9 from the free-throw line... Getz recorded her first collegiate double-double with 17 points and a career-high 12 rebounds... Smith and Dana Ferraro (Middlesex, N.J./Middlesex) each had 10 rebounds... Stony Brook outrebounded UMBC, 44-28... The Seawolves plays host to Boston University on Wednesday before traveling to New Hampshire on Saturday.
Vermont Catamounts
Vermont (10-3, 0-0 America East) won its America East opener with an 87-74 victory at Boston University to improve to 11-3 overall, the best start since the 1990-91 season (14-3)... It was the first win at Boston U. in four years and snapped a four-game losing streak to the Terriers in the all-time series... The Catamounts won its America East opener on the road for the first time in five tries... Sophomore Kelli Poles (Canadaigua, N.Y./Canadaigua Academy) came off the bench to score a career-high 22 points and grab 10 rebounds in 25 minutes of action for her second career double-double... Freshman Courtnay Pilypaitis (Orleans, Ontario/St. Peter) posted her second double-double in three games with 15 points and 11 assists... Pilypaitis is the first UVM player to hand out more than 10 assists since Theresa LaRocque posted 10 assists at Albany on Feb. 23, 2004... Freshman May Kotsopoulos (Waterloo, Ontario/Waterloo Collegiate) added 17 points in the win over Boston U... The Catamounts are 3-0 versus Boston teams this season having defeated Boston College, Boston University and Northeastern... Vermont improved to 54-10 when it scores 70 points or more dating back to the 2001-02 season... The Catamounts are 7-0 in 2006-07 when reaching the 70-point plateau... The Vermont bench has out scored the opponent’s bench 98-42 over the last four games... UVM hosts Hartford on Wednesday and Maine on Sunday.